U.S. Won't Seek N. Korean Nuke Sanctions

EDITH M. LEDERER

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Associated Press Writer

The United States said Thursday it would not press for punishing U.N. sanctions against North Korea now, but Pyongyang said it didn't trust Washington and demanded that the Security Council blame the U.S. government for the nuclear crisis.

North Korea has accused President Bush's "hostile policy" for the standoff and warned that sanctions would be tantamount to "a declaration of war."

On Thursday, North Korea's U.N. ambassador Pak Gil Yon attacked the United States for pushing the nuclear dispute into the Security Council, reiterating it can only be solved through negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang _ not in a setting that involved other nations.

Earlier, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Richard Williamson said the United States wants to resolve the dispute "in a systematic manner, and diplomatically."

Asked whether sanctions were a possibility in the near future, Williamson replied, "It's not an issue right now."

But Pak told a panel "I don't want to trust his remarks because the next day another remark will come out from the White House or from the State Department."

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Congress that North Korea had turned down a proposal to involve China and other countries in talks with the United States over its weapons programs. He said Asian neighbors have a stake in putting the "nuclear genie back in the bottle" and corking it and North Korea was not just a U.S. problem.

But Pak was adamant in ruling out any talks involving other countries.

"We are strongly opposed to such kind of multilateral talks, since this is just designed to avoid any responsibility of the U.S. from its international commitments," he said. "We will never attend such kind of multilateral talks."

If the United States is genuinely interested in a peaceful solution, he asked, why can't its representatives sit down with North Korean officials, especially after president Bush said Washington has no intention of attacking Pyongyang.

"If it is true, what is the reasons why they are not ready to negotiate?," he asked. "Negotiation does not mean … any concession, or any surrender."

The standoff began in October when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted it had a clandestine nuclear program. Pak insisted this was a U.S. "a rumor."

Washington suspended fuel shipments which were part of a 1994 agreement with the United States that froze North Korea's nuclear program. The North retaliated for the fuel cutoff by expelling U.N. nuclear monitors. It withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and took steps to restart its frozen nuclear program which Pak said would be limited to peaceful purposes such as electricity production "at the present stage."

The North Korean envoy accused the United States of promoting "war hysteria" and said Washington's offer of food and energy supplies if it scraps its nuclear program "are nothing but bait" to force the country to disarm.

He declared that North Korea would not recognize any Security Council action that does not blame the United States for its "wrong Korea policy," but he held open the possibility that his government might speak at a council meeting.

Pak also warned that the government would defend its communist system against any "U.S. reckless moves to dare topple" it.

Any confrontation with Pyongyang would overstretch the United States, now preoccupied with the crisis in Iraq and the global war on terrorism. Besides, China, Asia's biggest military power and North Korea's ally, wants a diplomatic solution and South Korea isn't keen to ratchet up hostilities with the North.

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Williamson said the United States would be discussing with the other 14 council members when to take up the matter of North Korea. The International Atomic Energy Agency voted Wednesday to refer North Korea to the Security Council for violating its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and other accords.